Arctic Hysteria Special Issue June 2009 [antikvár]

Foreword Nordic Visionaries and Icy Revolutions I am no stranger to Finland, neither to its habits nor inhabitants. In fact, my relationship with this Nordic country started in quite a hysterical way. In 1991, I was in Moscow to finalize the arrangements for the much-anticipated opening of The Aesthetic Arsenal: Socialist Realism Under Stalin in the Kremlin. During what was later described as a mini revolution and military coup, I was injured in the street fight accompanying the attempt to overthrow the Russian "White House. After several miserable days in a Moscow military hospital, I had lost a great deal of blood, and my husband arranged for emergency evacuation to Helsinki, where I received a complete blood transfusion. It is my firm belief that my pure-blooded Finnish status gives me a unique insight into this mysterious and beautiful country, and allows me, a newly minted Fin in 1991, the confidence to explore and report on all things Finnish. Marketta Seppälä, the co-curator of Arctic Hysteria: New Art from Finland, also has a long but less dramatic relationship with P.S.I. She was the Director of the Pori Art Museum when the retrospective Dennis Oppenheim: Selected Works 1967-1990. which I had organized in New York, traveled throughout Europe and the Nordic countries. This remarkable show had a number of installation challenges, including live guard dogs, dead parakeets, maniacal puppets, and numerous works involving chaotically and haphazardly-installed machine parts. Although several museums in Europe simply excluded some of the difficult Oppenheim works from their presentation, Marketta showed her courage and imagination by even attempting to do the famous guard dog entrance piece, in which the wary visitor enters the museum via a long passage defined by parallel lengths of chained guard dogs. Fortunately, neither Marketta nor I remember the success of this opening drama, but it certainly established for the both of us a friendship based on the love of animal art and artist visionaries. At P.S.I, we welcomed Markettas great 1999 show Animal Anima. Animus, which she co-curated with Linda Weintraub. It brought to New York an international array of artwork specifically involving animals, many of them live. This now-legendary show had a live sheep tethered on one of the P.S.I rooftop terraces, which were covered in green turf, watered daily, and watched over by, needless to say, a Finnish shepherd. Although the show represented artists from around the world, there was a definite New York memory of the curators' brilliant and dramatic vision. ! leapt at the chance to organize a show of Finnish artists when the opportunity was presented to me by the Artists' Association of Finland. Hoping to capitalize on my great memories of the extraordinary nature and astral preoccupations of Finnish artists and Markettas visionary imagination, I asked if she would join me as co-curator, and reunite our magical memories of the past. The works in the exhibition range from the soft, intimate and poetic, as in Pekka Jylhas stuffed hares, Veli Grano's touching films, and the nature-inspired wardrobe of Anni Rapinoja, and move towards the dark and sinister with Markus Copper's haunting installation in memóriám to the sailors aboard the sunken Russian submarine, Kursk. Finnish arts new generation is represented by the thrilling psychedelic projecrions of the Pink Twins, and the large photo montage wall piece by Tea Mäkipää. A major feature of Arctic Hysteria is the Futuro lounge, conceived in homage to the Finnish architect Matti Suuronen's iconic design, the Futuro House, which recalls both UFOs and the Utopian dreams of the 1960s. Though the prefabricated house was conceived of forty years ago, its forward thinking form still resonates today, giving curvilinear shape to dreams of the future. I wish to thank all the parricipat-ing artists and my co-curator Marketta Seppälä for their time, support and passion during the process of getting this exhibition to materialize. + Alanna Heiss Director, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center